“Sixty-six years ago, Albert Camus, in his book The Myth of Sisyphus, claimed that there was only one truly serious philosophical problem: suicide. The times that it has been our fate to live in, seem to have proven that Camus was right. What are the last thoughts of a suicide bomber just before he detonates his bomb?

[English]Sixty-six years ago, Albert Camus, in his book The Myth of Sisyphus, claimed that there was only one truly serious philosophical problem: suicide. The times that it has been our fate to live in, seem to have proven that Camus was right. What are the last thoughts of a suicide bomber just before he detonates his bomb? There are hardly any other questions that are more difficult to answer -obviously it is not possible to ask the one committing suicide- but it is one of the fundamental questions of our time. Camus made us understand that Sisyphus is the absurd hero, not only for his passion but also for his torment. His scorn for the gods, his hatred of death and his passion for life condemned him to hell. In this project, we suggest that there is a relationship of otherness between the myth of Sisyphus and the radically different Islamic myths of paradise after suicide.

For this work. the streets of two cities in Morocco and Switzerland were chosen. Although these cities are not directly involved in any conflict, they do represent the Islamic world, on the one hand, and the Western world, on the other. I am therefore proposing dynamics not of opposites but dialogical, in which the same question is asked.

The persons we approached were chosen at random in the streets and public places of Marrakech and Zurich. We focused on ordinary citizens who represent no one other than themselves. This strategy implicitly questions the mass media, which tend to undermine the questions because they concentrate on the answers, answers from specialists and opinion makers, who are, even in the best of cases, biased.

The responses recorded in the present two-channel video are no sample of a totality. We do not intend the audience to identify with those replies. On the contrary, we wish to engage the viewer with the question and with the many ethic, political, and esthetic issues stemming from it. Finally, the dialogic structure establishes a link between two vital spheres. It corresponds to a duality that does not permit transcendence or synthesis as in a dialectical process, nor does it pursue harmony as in the Oriental concept of dualism; rather it is a dialogue that is in a state of permanent tension.